Stalin's GULag 1930-1940

The Journey

After arrest and having spent time in prison, prisoners were usually sentenced. If they were to
spend time incarcerated in a forced labour camp, the journey to the camp usually began in a dark
green, almost black chernyi voron ['Black Maria' - truck equipped to transport prisoners]. During
the 1930s, they were camouflaged as vehicles delivering goods to shops. They were painted in bright
colours and were designated 'bread' or 'meat' in Russian, English, German and French. [1]J. Rossi, The GULag Handbook, New York: Paragon House, 1989,
pp.56-57 This mode of transport generally took prisoners to the railway station from
where most long journeys began. However, prisoners were not loaded onto trains at the station in
full public view; they were loaded at sidings down the track, away from public glare. It was done
secretively, just as the process of arrest late at night was secret. Being loaded onto a goods
train was the first real step to becoming a camp inmate. To follow was the horror of the journey in
cramped unsanitary conditions and the induction into forced labour camp existence.

Freight cars were commonly used to transport the prisoners by rail to their first destination
that was usually a transit camp situated en route to their final destination. Without the use of
ladders, prisoners were loaded into the carriages. Inside the carriages, along two sides, were two
rough, level bed boards and two closely barred windows just beneath the ceiling. Due to the large
number of prisoners in each carriage, some were forced to sleep underneath the boards. It was usual
for up to 60 or more to be crammed into each carriage. [2]MEMORIAL,
fond 2, opis 1, file 7, p.3, 1937. Bazhanov, Ivan Nikolaevich, reports that 150 prisoners travelled
in one goods wagon from Taganka prison to the Ivdel' camp area, a journey lasting 13
days. The prisoners could only wear the clothes in which they were arrested, even if the
weather was severe during the journey. In the winter months the temperature inside the carriages
was often no higher than that of outside. No bedding was available. During warmer weather,
prisoners spent all day and night in their underwear because the heat in the carriage was so
intense.

A narrow opening in the floor served as a latrine and an iron rim bordered it. This was to
prevent prisoners enlarging the hole and dropping down onto the track. The hole was also sometimes
used during stops for trade with escorts who acquired prisoner belongings in exchange for a piece
of black bread or some tobacco. There were no washing facilities, although memoir literature
mentions that sometimes the prisoner transports stopped at camps with bathhouses if the journey was
very long. There was no illumination and rats and vermin abounded. [3]3. MEMORIAL, 2/1/5, 106. 1938 Antsis, Marianna Lazarevna

Spotlights were mounted on the leading carriages to illuminate the train at night. Furthermore,
iron spikes were fastened underneath the carriages so that if anyone managed to escape through the
floor and lie down between the tracks, they would be scooped up by the spikes. The contents of the
carriages were usually designated with the words 'special equipment' marked in large letters on the
side. This explained the presence of guards armed with machine guns or automatic weapons on the
roofs of the cars. Prisoners were not detectable from the outside.

Prisoners were also transported by rail in passenger cars, known as Stolypin carriages. These
carriages were named after Stolypin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Internal
Affairs for Nicholas II from 1906-1911, who introduced this method of transporting prisoners. They
were dark green in colour with thick iron doors coming together in the middle of the cars and
secured by immense iron bars. The carriages often contained ten or more wire enclosures, each
measuring approximately three cubic metres. They were designed to hold either eight or 16 prisoners
but it was actually possible to fit 25 people or more into one enclosure. There were usually
three-tier sleeping shelves along the compartment bulkheads. The space separating the shelves was
bridged to create three continuous platforms. Throughout the journey, all prisoners were forced to
recline or semi recline on the platforms since the space between them was not large enough to
straighten up. Sometimes prisoners were forced to sleep on the floor beneath the bottom platform.
The cars had no windows and the only light came from the two tiny grated rectangles high up in the
roof in the long narrow corridor. There was a latrine for the prisoners at the other end. They were
accompanied there by guards who stood at the open door whilst waiting for them to finish.

Guards moved up and down the train at regular intervals beating on the walls of the cars with
rifles to ensure that no planks were missing. The number of guards for each convoy varied but on
most trains, there was one guard in each car and he generally sat on a small platform. On some
transports, there was not a guard in every car but on others, there were two or more. Illness was
rife and many prisoners did not make the whole journey that could last from 24 hours to several
weeks. In theory, a doctor and medical orderlies were supposed to accompany each train but this did
not always happen.

Rations for all prisoners transported by rail were very similar - bread every two or three days
and salted herring that caused severe thirst. A dry ration was supplied once a day or less often if
individual rations had been distributed before the transport began. Frequently the guards did not
distribute any water and most prisoners were tormented by thirst throughout their entire journey.
Water for washing was given out even more infrequently. As well as the basic rations, prisoners
occasionally received a bucket of soup containing fish heads, bones, eyes or animal entrails.
Sometimes they received no hot food at all. Only in rare cases was food adequate. Grosman states
that prisoners in his transport lasting two months from Leningrad to Vladivostock transit camp
received only 400 grams of bread every day and sometimes balanda [watery soup] or hot water. Hot
water was rare since they stopped at a kitchen only infrequently. However, they all had plenty to
eat because, prior to their transport, relatives in Leningrad had sent them parcels containing
sausage and cheese, as well as money with which to buy supplies at the stations. [5]5. MEMORIAL, 2/1/50, 18. 1938. Grosman, Arkardii Grigor'evich

The level of terror of the journey depended largely upon the guards. Memoir literature, however,
reports that some were friendlier than others. Kozhana reports that guards on the journey from
Moscow to Potma, Temlag, gave them a mug every four days with their barrel of water. All the
prisoners felt a despairing thirst because their rations generally comprised of a piece of vobly
fish and 400 grams of stale bread.[6]6. MEMORIAL, 2/1/73, 10. 1938.
Kozhana, Tsipora Moiseevna Glazov reports that in 1936 whilst travelling from Leningrad
to Chib'yu, Ukhtpechlag, the guards allowed hawkers near the train to sell different produce and
they sometimes even bought newspapers for their cargo. [7]7.
MEMORIAL, Glazov, Nikolai Alekhandrovich, 34. 1936 Antsis states that rations in
February 1938 on the way from Artemovsk in the Donbas region to Akmolinsk, Karlag, were received
twice a day on the 25 day journey. The women collected their sugar ration to give to 24 babies and
nursing mothers who were amongst them. The sugar was passed into the appropriate carriages by the
guards. The women also gave the guards money to buy potatoes and flour for them. Furthermore, these
were particularly friendly guards because they smuggled in a book for the women entitled 'Nasha
rodina' ['Our Motherland'] in which there was a map marked with a red pencil indicating their final
destination. [8]8. MEMORIAL, 2/1/5, 100-103. 1938. Antsis
Usually the final destination was not disclosed.

Another common method of transport was by sea. Prisoners taken to Vladivostock transit camp to
sail to Magadan, Kolyma could be held there for either a few days or six months or more whilst
waiting for the navigation season to begin again. It depended on the time of year. At the end of
the season in December, all communication by water to Kolyma was cut as the sea froze over.

When prisoners were about to be transferred, they were confined to barracks and forbidden to
leave them. Representatives from each barrack were elected to receive the rations for the group for
the whole journey in the form of a week's supply of food. During the 1930s, these rations, per
person, usually consisted of three kilograms of bread, 20 herrings, a slice of salted kefa and a
kilogram of canned vegetables. They were also supposed to receive a bowl of soup or porridge on the
ship every day.

One of the ships transporting the prisoners to Kolyma was the Dzhurma. [11][11] D. J. Dallin & Boris I. Nicolaevsky, Forced Labour in Soviet Russia, London:
Hollis & Carter, 1948, p.137 On the smokestack of this vessel was painted a broad
white band crossed with a narrow blue one, along with the letters DS, standing for Dal'stroi. She
was originally a typical cargo ship but had been slightly modified for the transportation of
prisoners. Four rows of plank beds in continuous decks, one above the other and running along the
walls of the dark, filthy hold had been built. The space between them was so small that it was
impossible to sit up. There was no ventilation and the toilets were makeshift wooden arrangements
built on deck. It was necessary to queue for hours to use them and women only ventured there after
dark, in groups. Prisoners used a parasha [latrine bucket] when they were kept locked in the hold
and then the stench became intolerable. As the passengers disembarked after their journey, the dead
and sick were laid on the shore and checked. The remainder were marched to Magadan transit camp
situated a few kilometres away from the coast.

Stajner reports that in 1939 the freighter the Budyonny that was usually used to transport wood
from Northern Russia to Western Europe was used to transport 4,800 prisoners from Solovki to the
extreme northern regions of the USSR. A six-storey structure had been built into the hold of the
ship with a wooden staircase connecting one storey to another. The ceilings were so low that it was
necessary to crawl into the bunks. Parashi were lined up between the bunks and when they overflowed
the stench was terrible. There were two latrines on the upper decks but it was necessary to queue
for hours to use them. Water was let down in a pail from above but it was usually scarce as the
ship was not built to supply water to so many people. Furthermore, part of the water ration was
used once a day to cook hot meals and part was used by the guards. The prisoner ration consisted of
zwieback, herrings and soup made of sauerkraut and beans that was served every other day. One
large, rusty, black tin bowl was used to serve ten prisoners. Illness was rife and the corpses were
simply thrown overboard. After a week voyaging through the White Sea, the Barents Sea and the Kara
Sea over 150 prisoners were dead. However, the ship dropped anchor at Novaya Zemlya in the Barents
Sea to refresh its supply of fresh water and bread. Now prisoners had enough water and bread.
Furthermore, the rations of hot food increased to two servings of hot soup a day. On 22 August
1939, the ship dropped anchor at Dudinka, after a journey lasting 19 days. [14]14. K. Stajner, Seven Thousand Days in Siberia, Edinburgh: Canongate Publishing
Limited, 1988, pp.62-66

Other barges were equipped with multi-tier continuous bed boards that were too close together to
allow movement and so a hold could contain several thousand people forced to lie on the bed boards
for two or three weeks. Prisoners were forbidden from going up on deck and were issued with a dry
food ration. Two barrels with a volume of several dozen pails were set up beneath the hatch on the
bottom of the barge, near the ladder. One contained drinking water and the other served as the
parasha. The latrine bucket had to be emptied on route and the escort supplied two pails from the
deck that the prisoners had to drop into the parasha. Then the prisoners stood on the stairs in a
row and passed the pails up the 'bucket brigade'. However, drops sometimes fell into the drinking
water and caused dysentery amongst the prisoners. Covers on the barrels were prohibited since
prisoners could use them as offensive weapons. [17]17. Rossi,
p.512

1. J. Rossi, The GULag Handbook, New York: Paragon House, 1989, pp.56-57
2. MEMORIAL, fond 2, opis 1, file 7, p.3, 1937. Bazhanov, Ivan Nikolaevich, reports that 150
prisoners travelled in one goods wagon from Taganka prison to the Ivdel' camp area, a journey
lasting 13 days.
3. MEMORIAL, 2/1/5, 106. 1938 Antsis, Marianna Lazarevna
4. Rossi, p.182.
See also: MEMORIAL, 2/1/84, 23. L'vov, Evsei Moiseevich reports that in August 1938 on a transport
from Moscow to Vladivostock, the carriages were searched at night by guards carrying hammers. They
used these to hit the prisoners on the back of the head and on the legs as they moved across the
carriage.
5. MEMORIAL, 2/1/50, 18. 1938. Grosman, Arkardii Grigor'evich
6. MEMORIAL, 2/1/73, 10. 1938. Kozhana, Tsipora Moiseevna
7. MEMORIAL, Glazov, Nikolai Alekhandrovich, 34. 1936
8. MEMORIAL, 2/1/5, 100-103. 1938. Antsis
9. MEMORIAL, 2/1/50, 19. 1937. Grosman
10. D. J. Dallin, The Real Soviet Russia, London: Hollis & Carter, p.143. See also: MEMORIAL,
2/2/82, 2. Skachkov, Petr Emel'yanovich reports that in 1938 prisoners were loaded onto the ship by
barge. They entered the barge through a hatch that was closed when the hold contained thirty
people. Above that, another ten people were loaded. Within a couple of minutes people in the hold
began to gasp for breath and fainted. The prisoners' cries for help were in vain, as it was
impossible to open the hatch due to the bodies on top of it. As time went on, more prisoners
fainted. Eventually the barge reached the ship and the hatch was opened. Many prisoners had to be
carried out by the guards. See also: G. Saunders [ed.] Samizdat - Voices of the Soviet Opposition,
New York: Monad Press for the Anchor Foundation, 1974, p.163. In 1936 prisoners docked at Naryan
Mar, Vorkuta. The prisoners were expected to get onto a covered barge for transportation along the
Pechora River but they protested that the barges looked like grey coffins and refused to board
them. Finally a two-board passenger ship with normal accommodation steamed into the harbour and
took them to Vorkuta.
11. D. J. Dallin & Boris I. Nicolaevsky, Forced Labour in Soviet Russia, London: Hollis &
Carter, 1948, p.137
12. V. Petrov, It Happens in Russia - Seven Years Forced Labour in Siberian Goldfields, London:
Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1951, pp.109-114
13. Rossi, p.103. Rossi collated the information for his handbook from various sources; personal
observation during the years 1937-1958 spent in the Lubyanka and Butyrki prisons, transit prisons,
Noril'sk camp, Alexandrovka and Vladimir central prisons; information from individuals encountered
there, including former inmates of the first Soviet concentration camps on the Solovki Islands and
prisoners who held responsible administrative posts in the camps. No other sources mention this
incident, however.
14. K. Stajner, Seven Thousand Days in Siberia, Edinburgh: Canongate Publishing Limited, 1988,
pp.62-66
15. Z. Zajdlerowa, The Dark Side of the Moon, Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989,
p.76
16. MEMORIAL, Glazov, 77-80. 1936
17. Rossi, p.512